Stock Market & Financial Investment News

XenoPort has positive readthroughs from clean Biogen label, says Wells FargoWells Fargo believes that the benign FDA label for Biogen's (BIIB) Tecfidera indicates that regulators will have a favorable view of XenoPort's (XNPT) '829 treatment. The firm thinks that the label gives Biogen a better chance of maintaining exclusivity on its drug through 2028, possibly reducing the level of differentiation that XenoPort will need to demonstrate for '829. The firm maintains an Outperform rating on Xenoport.

Biogen update 'promising,' says RBC CapitalRBC Capital says that there were negative aspects to yesterday's update on the trial results of Biogen's Alzheimer's treatment. Specifically, the 6 mg version of the drug only slightly improved patients' performance on one cognition test compared with the most recently chosen group of ten patients taking placebos, and did not improve their performance at all on another cognition test. However, RBC says that the drug did improve patients' performance on both tests versus the 20+ patients who were in a previous placebo group. Additionally, the firm reports that the cognition test on which the patients taking the drug outperformed versus the newer placebo group is more widely accepted than the other cognition test. RBC sees a 50%-60% chance that the drug will succeed.

Biogen July weekly volatility elevated into Q2 and outlook Biogen July weekly call option implied volatility is at 77, August is at 37, September is at 34; compared to its 52-week range of 23 to 46, suggesting large near term price movement into the expected release of Q2 results on July 24.

Biogen drops after reporting data on Alzheimer's drugThe shares of Biogen (BIIB) are falling after the company released data on its Alzheimer's treatment candidate, aducanumab. Peer Eli Lilly (LLY) also reported data this morning on its own experimental Alzheimer's drug, solanezumab. BIOGEN: Biogen's data "does not inspire confidence," Piper analyst Joshua Schimmer wrote in a note to investors today. The 6 mg dose of the drug performed similarly to the 1mg dose, and was barely better than the placebo, the analyst stated. The cognitive and functional performance of the patients who took the 6 mg dose did not improve by a statistically significant amount, while the results of patients taking the other doses were "noisy,"Schimmer stated. Additionally, indications of excess fluid in the brain was observed in a significant number of patients, representing an additional problem for the treatment, the analyst believes. The data "is far from inspiring confidence" and makes the outlook for aducanumab "more speculative than ever," Schimmer contended. LILLY: Also this morning, Eli Lilly presented results from a pre-specified secondary analysis of several Phase 3 studies at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference. According to the company, the results suggest the treatment effect of solanezumab was preserved within a pre-specified amount in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease who received solanezumab earlier in the disease compared to patients who began treatment at a later point. Treatment differences in cognition and function between early-start and delayed-start groups at the end of the placebo-controlled period were preserved at the primary time point of 108 weeks within a pre-defined margin. Treatment differences in cognition and function between early-start and delayed-start groups at the end of the placebo-controlled period were also preserved at an additional time point of 132 weeks within a pre-defined margin.The differences at 108 weeks and at at 132 weeks remained statistically significant, the company said. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, Biogen fell 3% to $397.43 while Eli Lilly shares rose 0.6% to $86.11.